Promoting the value of ancient villages in tourism development.

CONSERVATION IN LINKED WITH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (VH,TT&DL) of Dong Thap province, Dong Hoa Hiep is a place with a system of ancient houses, landscapes of fruit gardens and community life that are preserved quite synchronously, which is an important condition to form a competitive cultural - ecological destination.

The province will have many solutions to promote the value of Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village in the coming time.

On May 24, 2017, Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village was ranked as a national architectural and artistic relic. This is a source of pride for the province to continue to preserve and promote this precious heritage, attracting domestic and international tourists.

The province identifies that developing tourism in Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village is not only to increase the number of tourism products, but is also a strategic direction associated with the province's long-term socio -economic development.

In recent times, the province has gradually implemented the work of preserving ancient house architecture, improving landscapes, supporting the community to participate in tourism and connecting products with other destinations in the province.

Currently, the core tourism product of Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village is visiting ancient house architecture. The ancient village has about 7 ancient houses from 150 - 220 years old and 29 houses from 80 - 100 years old, typically: Ancient houses of Mr. Kiet, Mr. Ba Duc, Mr. Xoat...

Some old houses invest in accommodation and organize activities to experience local culinary culture such as making pancakes, spring rolls and traditional music. The old houses mainly welcome international guests, the rest are domestic guests from neighboring provinces and cities.

To promote and attract tourists, the province has organized the Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village Cultural - Tourism Festival with many rich cultural and artistic activities. With the support of the province as well as the initiative of the ancient houses, in recent times, Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village has become an attractive destination for domestic and foreign tourists.

MAKE THE ANCIENT VILLAGE AN ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION

In reality, although attracting many tourists to visit and travel, according to some businesses, tourism products here still lack diversity, making it difficult to retain tourists for a long time.

Dong Hoa Hiep ancient village is one of the attractive tourist destinations of Dong Thap province. Photo: DUY NHUT

According to Mr. Ly Chan An, Director of Vietravel Long Xuyen branch (An Giang province), to promote the value of Dong Hoa Hiep ancient village, it is necessary to first improve the quality and diversify tourism products.

Specifically, develop in-depth experience products such as “A day as an ancient Cai Be resident”. Ancient houses can organize activities for tourists to participate in traditional occupations such as: Making green rice flakes, rice paper, coconut candy, gardening, and catching fish.

According to Mr. Vo Pham Tan, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dong Thap province, through the Seminar on Developing Tourism Products of Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village Connecting Heritage, Creativity and Sustainability on December 6, the Organizing Committee has reached an agreement between businesses, destinations, local authorities and experts.

This is the basis for the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to advise the province on specific solutions based on the orientations set forth by the Resolution of the Dong Thap Provincial Party Congress for the 2025-2030 term.

The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism continues to advise the province on specific solutions for Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village and Cai Be Floating Market to connect tourism tours and routes.

Thereby, the province will develop new quality tourism products to meet the needs of tourists, especially international visitors in the coming time.

Ancient houses need to exploit the quiet, airy space of the orchard to develop relaxation programs, meditation or clean agricultural tours. At the same time, it is necessary to increase high-quality amateur music performances, organize folk art nights in the courtyard of ancient houses or communal houses.

One of the important solutions is to strengthen the conservation and management of heritage. The province needs to train homeowners and residents in knowledge and skills of heritage conservation, helping them to be aware of the value and ways to preserve the house.

According to Mr. Ly Chan An, to develop ancient village tourism, it is necessary to strengthen connections and promote promotion. In particular, it is necessary to build inter-regional and inter-provincial tours connecting Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village with other famous tourist destinations such as Thoi Son Islet, Cai Be Floating Market and the Mekong Delta provinces. The province needs to focus on building websites, 360-degree videos about the ancient village, using social networking platforms to promote the beautiful images and historical stories of the ancient village to the international and domestic markets...

From an expert's perspective, Mr. Phan Buu Toan, Vice Principal of Saigon Tourism College, believes that to meet the current trends in AI-driven tourism, the human factor is crucial to the success of a tourism product.

We have a beautiful old house, but if we don't know how to do it and the service is bad, it's also very difficult.

Mr. Phan Buu Toan emphasized: “There are some subjects that we need to influence. First is how the community around the ancient village perceives tourism, whether they support and understand tourism or not. If community conflicts are not resolved, it will be difficult for tourism to develop.

Therefore, the community in the ancient village must have a good awareness of tourism; they must participate in enjoying the benefits and preserving and returning to their locality. Besides, for those directly involved in tourism, in addition to professional skills, service style, communication, situation handling, etc. also play a very important role.

Furthermore, it is necessary to provide professional training for officials working in tourism management. Only then will the tourism industry be united in its vision and direction…”

From the perspective of a state management agency, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Dong Thap province, Vo Pham Tan, said that the province determined to develop Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village in the direction of synchronous connection between conservation, exploitation and management; innovating products in a professional and modern direction but still maintaining core values.

At the same time, ensuring sustainability, especially preserving architecture, landscape and increasing income for people. These are the requirements throughout for the ancient village to become a stable, quality destination with a clear brand in the coming period.

According to Comrade Vo Pham Tan, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism affirms its determination to strongly implement tasks to promote the value of Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village. First and foremost, this includes investing in completing essential infrastructure in the ancient village area; and strengthening the preservation of architecture and landscape.

At the same time, create favorable conditions for businesses to participate in exploiting products; support people in developing tourism services. One of the important solutions is to strengthen promotion and market connections; build a destination management mechanism to ensure order, quality, and safety.

These are key tasks for Dong Hoa Hiep Ancient Village to become a typical cultural and ecological destination of the Mekong Delta in the coming time...

ANH THU - CAO THANG

Source: https://baodongthap.vn/phat-huy-gia-tri-lang-co-trong-phat-trien-du-lich-a233889.html